After two purchase mistakes, I'm finally asking you experts for advice. I just want a basic, pocketable, high quality camera. It doesn't have to be state-of-the-art, but it must produce crisp, clear and rich images I can print on 4x6 or 5x7 paper.
So far I've gone through a Casio EX-Z 750 (fantastic images, but mine had the dreaded lens error -- and a bewildering array of shooting options) and a Pentax Optio S5z (blurry, mediocre images, unstable white balance, and shutter lag).
Might any of you suggest a simple, user-friendly camera under $200 that delivers great image quality? Thanks to you all, and a happy 2007!

In general you get what you pay for. Under $200 probably won't get you what you want. Check out the online prices for something like the Canon a630 or others of comparable features and pricing. An hour spent reading some reviews here at Steve's as well as at some of the other dependable review sites (such as dpreview, c-net) will move you a long way to making a good decision.

Thanks for your replies, guys -- I certainly appreciate your suggestions. After spending time today reading Steve's reviews, I got my weekly Costco e-mail. They have the Kodak Easyshare C633 for $129 after rebate -- and since it's one of Steve's top-rated cameras, I decided to give it a try, and a new home next to my Olympus SP-500 UZ. Thanks again!

an hour spent at a camera store and reviewing / comparing image quality from different cameras on one of their computers will reveal more then two weeks of reading reviews from all over the internet.

I read some gtreat reviews and then when I test - it is nowhere near what I expected ... so - TEST YOURSELF ... obviously you can not do that at costco ... but you can do that at any half decent camera store